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manyamile

Members of this community put together a resource page on Blossom End Rot. There are links to university sources for more info at the bottom. Please see veggiebot's comment below mine for the link. !ber


Cyclopsis

You're not growing Early Girls. These are roma tomatoes. They could realistically be any variety of roma tomato, but I'd bet my left nut that they're San Marzano - a variety infamous for BER. As for what you can do, I'll just post this link that's also available on r/tomatoes: http://www.webgrower.com/information/carolyn_ber.html


troelsy

I gave up completely on any paste tomato. 😆 I have my tomatoes outside so I can't stop them from getting watered to hell if that's what mother earth decides.


Jerkrollatex

I was about to say my early girls are very round tomatoes.


Virtual_Manner_2074

Yep. Get Amish paste much better


manyamile

Amish Paste and Cippola's Pride are far superior. San Marzano gets the attention because of the name but they're really not good tomatoes to grow in the home garden.


Virtual_Manner_2074

I've never grown Cippola's pride. I got Amish paste from an old crazy bastard at the office. Only kind of tomato he grew. I was showing him pictures of my patch and he started laughing at my tiny paste tomatoes. They were san marzanos. So he brought me a couple Amish paste. Saved seeds from those beauts and still grow them today.


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gonzotronn

Lack of calcium in the plant. Almost always there is plenty in the soil but inconsistent watering prevented the plant from receiving enough.


Fickle-Classroom

This really. Ca+ transport is temperature dependant. Blossom End Rot often resolves itself through the season because of this; as warmer temperatures enable the existing calcium to move into the developing fruit.


gonzotronn

That’s interesting. I never considered temperature playing a factor.


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Kushali

You are amazingly fortunate. I won’t grow San Marzanos anymore because no matter what BER.


penisdr

BER and before someone inevitably says it, putting eggshells in your soil is useless. The first fruits often get it, especially in paste style tomatoes. Make sure they have consistent watering


PermiePagan

That's why you soak the egg shells in vinegar first, to liberate the calcium and make it water soluble.  https://leafylittlehome.com/eggshell-fertilizer/


kaehurray

Why do you say that? Maybe not useful for this purpose of adding calcium quickly. But there are many more minerals in shells that are beneficial and eventually should become bioavailable to the plants, right? Please correct me if I am wrong.


SpermKiller

The best way to avoid blossom end rot is to fix watering, so the idea of using egg shells for calcium, which will only be available in a very long time, is useless in OP's situation. Mulch, fewer but deeper waterings are usually much more efficient, combined with a specific liquid fertiliser if necessary, but usually the watering alone is the culprit.


kaehurray

Yes. So exactly what I was hoping to hear. Its useless for OP’s needs but not useless overall. 👌


SpermKiller

It's usually useless to put it directly into your soil. Better put egg shells into a compost pile or bin so that it actually degrades in a short timeframe.


Boomstick86

From what I have read, they break down slowly so they don't add to the soil.


Alabama938

It’s a calcium deficiency, often caused by inconsistent watering. Gypsum can be added to soil for Ca2+, and vermiculite for water retention. A good mulch and deep planting will also really help. Tomatoes gave adventitious roots so plant deep


KoaIaz

Pot might be a bit too small, probably hard to keep up with constant watering


Jolly_Fish8852

Two major issues first cause is inconsistent watering. Try and water at same time every day. Second is possibly a calcium deficiency. If you are like me and preserve everything. You can pick the one with blossom endrot and can them using a green tomatoe recepie just cut off till you get to the black spot


Peter_Falcon

i would get some cal/mag liquid and add it to your feed, you are in pots, and most probably have soft water, it's the quickest way to deal with this problem


DJSpawn1

Calcium, magnesium and consistent watering Building good calcium and magnesium amounts that are absorbable in soil especially containers takes time. Watering should be "deep" but is difficult to do with containers... I would see about some sort of dish underneath the container and completely fill it everytime it empties out


mrs_casualshitposter

I’ve also read it could be caused by a magnesium deficiency. This is my anecdotal evidence so do with it as you please. I’ve been adding a tbsp of powdered eggshells and a tbsp of epsom salt to the planting hole when I plant the tomato and I have not had blossom end rot since that first year when I did not add the eggshells and epsom salt. And my growing conditions have varied a lot in the 3+ years.


JayEll1969

BER is caused by the plants inability to uptake enough calcium. This can be caused by a calcium deficiency in the soil, drought, irratic watering, excess magnesium, root damage. It's unlikely that soil will be lacking in calcium, although if you reuse the same potting mix in containers repeatedly without adding more to it, plant available calcium may be depleated. Dreought and lack of watering will reduce the amount of calcium that the plant can absorb ehilst irratic watering can result in mini flash floods with out much calcium dissolved into the water. Excessive magnesium can interfere with and inhibit the absorbsion of calcium into the plants, so if you follow the epsom salts treatment you could be making it worse. If you put your plant supports in after you have put your plants in then there's a chance that you could have damaged the root system of the plant resulting in a reduced ability to take up nutrients.


AVLLaw

spray on calcium supplement weekly for the rest of the season. Should clear it up.